Nightfall's quest is beginning, but so is Blackheart's reign… Will Twilight be able to stop Blackheart now that he's on his way to Canterlot? Will Nightfall be able to get to Equestria and redeem his name to his home town? Will – Okay, I'll stop. xD Welcome to my third chapter and all. As you all can guess; I've been working really hard on this chapter. Why? It's where the action begins. I mean, with Sir Blackheart coming to Canterlot and all, there's bound to be some action, right? Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out. Enjoy!
"Let's… Never do that again." Rarity spoke queasily as she stumbled on the concrete of Canterlot's town square. With a green face, she let herself fall onto Applejack, who whole-heartedly caught her.
Discord chuckled as she found the small white unicorn's reaction to his teleportation trick amusing. "What's wrong Rarity," he asked 'obliviously'. A large grin stretched across his face, showing off his gigantic shiny fang.
She groaned in return, trying her best not to vomit all over the place, but most importantly herself. It'd be simply horrible if she got that disgusting muck on her, especially her perfectly-combed purple hair. Rarity shut her blue eyes tightly and shivered at the thought.
Applejack hauled Rarity onto her back and sent Discord a grim glare, "That ain't funny Discord." The orange earth pony's tone was filled with utter seriousness as she pushed her large cowboy hat from in front of her green eyes with her hoof.
Discord blinked and held his claw/paw up in defense, eyes growing wide now, "Well I'm sorry for thinking of something as amusing, Applejack."
A blur of color zipped across the sky in the ROYGBV formation, stopping in front of the draconequus to reveal itself as the famous pegasus Rainbow Dash. She pointed her light blue hoof at his face and yelled ferociously, "You heard her; that wasn't funny!" She turned to Fluttershy and began yelling at the smaller yellow pegasus, "See?! I told you he faked being reformed!"
Fluttershy shook her head and gently flew over to Discord, placing her hoof on one of his shoulder. With a small smile, she began speaking, her soft voice seeming extra kind while speaking about the draconequus. "No, he didn't know that Rarity would have been like that after teleporting us; it was a mistake. Give him a break."
Rarity slowly slumped off of Applejack's back and stood tiredly, looking to Discord angrily.
Discord grinned hard and embraced her in a tight hug, "Oh Fluttershy you're the best!" He closed his eyes and giggled childishly. Fluttershy hugged back gratefully as the others stared at the scene and groaned in frustration.
Even Pinkie Pie, who loved everything, had a certain dislike for Discord. Not because of his chaos, no, but because he wouldn't bring back those awesome chocolate rain-shooting cotton candy clouds.
The draconequus had let go of Fluttershy and leaned back in the air, placing his arms behind his head. Looking at the five ponies, he said nothing. An awkward silence filled the square, leaving the five wondering what they were doing in Canterlot and why in Equestria was the city so empty.
Pinkie Pie stepped forward, asking the question she knew was necessary to ask. "Can you make a cotton candy cloud that makes chocolate rain just for me?"
The others stared at her in awe and yelled the pink earth pony's name in unison, "Pinkie!"
Discord laughed and nodded. "Why, of course Pinkie Pie! Anything for a friend." He put emphasis on the last word as he shared an equally long glance with each of the ponies. As he raised his paw to create a cloud, a familiar voice ended his trick.
"Ah, girls! You've arrived!" Celestia exclaimed as she trotted happily to them. The five of them instantly bowed at the sight of the Equestrian princess. When they raised their heads, the princess took note on one distinct part of their appearances. "And I see you've successfully gathered the Elements of Harmony."
"Why wouldn't we?" Discord twirled Twilight's crown on one of his talons, letting his paw drop to his side as he bragged to Celestia.
Using her magic, Celestia took the crown from his claw and placed a quick spell on it, causing it to suddenly disappear. Discord let the crown disappear and sent Celestia a 'really?' look. Rainbow Dash gasped as she watched the accessory vanish with wide eyes, "Princess?! What'd you do that for?!"
Giggling gently, Celestia calmed the pegasus. "Don't worry Rainbow Dash, I just placed it within the castle. It's obvious it was already in the wrong hands…" She sent Discord a dull expression only to receive a small 'giggle' from him.
"Not tryin' 'ta be rude; but what are we doin' here, Princess?" Applejack questioned as she removed her hat from her blonde mane. She always loved to help the princess, but wasting time with greetings wasn't like her. Of course helping Equestria would always be a top priority, but an orchard full of apples to pick wasn't anything to shrug off, either.
The princess turned to Applejack as her facial expression became somber. "I've bad news." A few silent gasps came from the smaller ponies as she paused to let them realize what the situation was. Beside her, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor arrived, greeting the others soundlessly with waving hooves. "There's an evil from long ago; it's returned."
Thump. Thump. Thump. Twilight's heart was pounding in her chest as she slowly opened her eyes. As she wearily glanced around her, she could hear something – something that said she was in danger. The sound of fire crackling popped in her ears as she came to consciousness, causing her heart to beat harder in fear. She opened her mouth to breathe but as she inhaled, a cloud of smoke invaded her lungs, causing her to close her eyes tight and cough violently. Subconsciously, she could hear herself speaking, "I'm in trouble; I've got to move," but her body wouldn't respond. She just laid there in pain.
The fire was beginning to grow large and the smoke was growing thicker; she had to move fast. Twilight opened her eyes wide as she sat up, muffling her moan of intense pain. Squinting, she looked through the cloud of black soot and saw the carriage, where only three forms could be made out from where she was. Beginning to feel the heat of the fire lick at her back, Twilight forced herself onto her hooves, ignoring the slight stinging pain that shot down her left hind leg.
She began limping towards the carriage, letting out short, painful grunts each time her injured leg touched the ground. "C'mon Twilight, you can do this…" The princess motivated herself as she emerged through the smoke triumphantly; finding Spike, Luna, and one of the royal guards all laying unconscious around the golden carriage. With no hesitation, she hauled the baby dragon onto her back and used her magic to place the others inside the still-intact carriage. Twilight used her magic once more and picked up the carriage, limping away from the burning forest and towards what seemed like a cave a small distance away. Like the hero Celestia proclaimed her to be, she shoved aside the strain her magic put on her and kept going.
As the sky exploded and rumbled above her, Twilight pushed forward underneath the oncoming storm; she had to save her friends. Minutes had passed and it wasn't long until the rain came into play. Soaking wet and tired, the young princess soon made it to the cave she was aiming to rest in for the night. Gently placing the carriage on the cold rock ground, Twilight collapsed onto her right side, catching Spike before he fell as well with her magic. She placed him in the carriage with Luna and the guard silently, looking out into the storm then. Her chest moved quickly as she panted from her heroic action. She knew they were far from Darkadia and Canterlot, but something about that forest seemed familiar. Something… Evil. A spark exploded in Twilight's mind as she figured out where she was; the Everfree Forest.
Laying there, she could hear a pained groan come from behind her, causing her to shoot up onto her hooves and turn around. Luna had awaked, and it was one of the worst awakenings she'd ever had. The princess opened her eyes at the slightest and gritted her teeth as she attempted to move her left foreleg, which was bruised and battered from the crash.
"Princess Luna!" Twilight exclaimed as she rushed over to the older alicorn in the carriage. Ignoring her wound, she hopped onto the edge of the gold and stared at the pained Luna with caring eyes.
Luna turned her head slightly and looked at Twilight. With no hesitation, she began speaking, her voice weak, "Twilight… M-My foreleg… It's…" They both knew that it was broken, but neither of them said so.
Breaking the silence between them, Twilight nodded quickly and spoke, "I know. Don't worry, I'll find a way to make it better." She stared into space and began thinking about what could fix the problem.
"How-"
"The forest!" Luna simply stared to her with a confused expression, now coming to her full consciousness. Twilight let off a smile and continued, "The Everfree forest a bit south from here! I'm positive there are some plants I can use to help your wound heal faster." Before she became a princess, she decided to stick around the enchantress Zecora, who taught her multiple mixtures of plants that would fix anything.
Luna gave her a weak smile and slowly nodded her head, "That's excellent, Twilight, but please wait until the rain stops." It was obvious she wanted Twilight to be safe, for she felt like the young princess's older sibling in ways.
But, her sentence was useless as it was unheard; Twilight was already on her way out of the cave, galloping at her fastest speed with her injured leg. Being left with the two unconscious males, Luna sighed and watched the lavender alicorn rush through the blinding rain, "Good luck, Twilight…"
… Upon nightfall…
She'd been searching for hours, but nothing came to sight. All that was there were spiders, birds, and trees. Lots and lots of trees. Twilight groaned in frustration and she dropped onto her knees, slamming her hooves into the damp soil, "Why is there nothing here?!" Her voice echoed through the night, proving to Equestria her anger.
Then standing on all fours, she glanced around herself and realized the real problem she was in; she was lost. In the darkness, the lavender alicorn squinted, seeing nothing but indefinite forms and dark shadows. She let her eyebrows drop and blandly spoke to herself, "Great… Just great." The princess looked upward, seeing the constellations she knew so very well in the pitch black night sky. Though she knew all of their names and what they meant, they would help her none in finding her way back to the cave. Still, though, the stars were pretty bright out that night…
She shook her head violently and stared ahead, seeing nothing but darkness once more; she had no time to be staring at stars! "Okay, maybe if I use my magic to pick out the ingredients for me…" Twilight began thinking her usual way – logically – about how to find the mixture for Luna's broken foreleg. She began pacing forward and back in the dark, thinking furiously until she heard a bush shake a bit.
Looking up to the rustling bush, the alicorn asked, oblivious to what she was dealing with, "Who's there?" The bushes shook some more, causing her to stand in a defensive stance and aim her horn towards the immediate area. "I asked, who's there?!" She raised her tone to sound intimidating; she could at least try to stop her attacker.
Suddenly, a small blur of white leaped into the air, letting out a gentle yelp as it did so. Twilight scrambled slightly as she prepared her magic attack, but stopped when she realized that the 'flying' form was a young filly. Confused, the princess caught the young one with her magic and gently placed her on the ground. "Umm…"
Completely filled with fear, the white-coated filly jumped around and shouted to her, "Th-There's a big kitty! It's b-bad and mean and trying to eat me!" With tear-filled, purple eyes, the filly sobbed as she rushed to Twilight's leg and hugged it tightly. "Help me… Pwease?" She then looked up to the princess and let pouted hard, her eyes growing the size of basketballs. Cuteness couldn't even define the look Twilight was experiencing.
Twilight blinked and place one of her forelegs around the smaller unicorn who happened to remind her of Sweetie Belle. She calmly spoke back, now catching up to what she was talking about, "What big ca–"
A giant manticore launched from the darkness, its fangs bared and its claws ready for the kill. Its earsplitting roar echoed through the forest as it prepared to devour the defenseless ponies. Twilight stared up to it with wide eyes, gasping loudly with fear. The little filly closed her eyes tightly and screamed as she turned her head away from the beast.
Nightfall raised his head as he heard the blood-curdling scream, and he knew it could only be one person. "Dawn!" He'd lost her a few minutes ago in the darkness because she decided to be the knucklehead she always was when it came to adventures. "No!" Fear jolted through his body as he thought of the soon-to-be reality of losing his sister. He tightened his large saddlebag and burst into a full gallop into the forest.
Fear didn't exist, fatigue didn't exist – nothing existed to the colt except for his sister as he looped past the trees and bushes in the forest's darkness. Another scream rang into the air, but this time it was from someone older. Caring none of the second scream, Nightfall yelled into the night once more for his sister, "Dawn, I'm on my way!"
The dark purple-coated colt burst through the last layerof brush before he skidded to a stop, seeing one of the most incredible sights he'd ever seen. There was a manticore lying in the mud unconsciously, stars swirling over its head and a small purple alicorn standing above it, panting loudly in exhaustion. Dawn was trembling in fear behind the alicorn, her eyes closed tightly.
Nightfall blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing was real. First of all; an Alicorn in the Everfree forest? That was unusual. Second; she had the power to bring down a fully-grown manticore? That was amazing. Stepping forward, the colt spoke gently, looking to his sister who hid behind Twilight's legs. "Dawn, come here."
The white filly whimpered and shook her head, wrapping her forelegs tightly around Twilight's hind legs.
He sheepishly smiled to Twilight and then went back to his sister, "Come here… Now." He put some force in his voice, showing to his sister that he wasn't playing around anymore.
Grumbling a few words, Dawn let go of Twilight and stomped over to her brother, splashing mud everywhere. "I never get to have any fun…"
"Fun?!" That was Nightfall's breaking point. "You call that fun?!" He pointed his hoof at the limp manticore, his voice about as loud as the beast's roar. "You could have been hurt! Or even ki-"
Twilight cleared her throat and cut the colt off. The siblings both turned and looked to her, blinking a few times in humiliation. Dawn said nothing and just stared, innocent eyes twinkling in the moonlight. Nightfall spoke in embarrassment, "I'm terribly sorry! I just… I don't want her to be hurt, y'know? She's all I've got."
"It's okay, I understand," she giggled and excused his brotherly behavior. It almost reminded the scolding she got from Shining Armor for running away from Canterlot to find a monster that was in one of her books. Oh, the crazy things a friendless filly would do alone.
The colt looked down to his sister and spoke sternly, "We'll finish this talk later." Dawn nodded and looked away, regretting what she had done. Acting as if nothing happened, he looked up to Twilight and asked, "So who are you?"
"My name's Twilight Sparkle, princess of… Well, I'm just a princess, really." She sheepishly giggled as she introduced herself to the rather handsome colt. Now that she started to pay attention, he did have a few parts on his body that could take a double-take.
With no hesitation, Nightfall dropped onto his knees and bowed to her, lowering his head. "I'm sorry; I hadn't known you were royalty, your highness."
Her eyes went wide as she watched the colt as well as the filly bow before her. "Umm." She didn't want to be bowed to; it was just wrong to her. "You really don't have to do that."
"But of course, you're a princess!" Nightfall said as he rose to his hooves again, Dawn following right after him. "A beautiful one at that," he thought to himself, his dark blue eyes quickly scanning over her body. His eyes sparkled as he smiled slightly, trying to seem friendly as well as a worthy subject to the lavender alicorn.
"I know, but I'm… I've only been a princess for only a day." Twilight drew imaginary circles in the ground with her hoof. Dawn stood quietly behind her brother, biting down on her bottom lip tightly; she just wanted to scream! She just fulfilled her dream! She met a princess!
Nightfall shrugged, stepping towards her, changing his tone from friendly to serious, "Alright… Twilight," the royal name felt foreign as it rolled off of his tongue. "I'm Nightfall, heir of the First Royal Guard."
"First Royal Guard? Like, from Darkadia?" Twilight looked to him with confusion, tilting her head to the left slightly.
"Yes, my sister and I are supposed to be going to Canterlot to meet Princess Celestia so she can send someone to help rebuild Darkadia."
"Rebuild? Don't you mean 'defeat Sir Blackheart'?" Something was a bit off here…
"That's impossible; Blackheart took his toll on our town and left to do whatever he does in his free time."
Twilight took another step toward him, a feeling of insecurity filling up her stomach, "W-Wait… How did he destroy the town?"
Nightfall replied instantly, his memory letting him relive the moment when it first happened, "He attacked us with a storm of chaos. The winds lifted ponies off of the street and the rain shattered windows. He even shot lightning bolts at us!"
That was exactly what she needed to know what was going on. Twilight figured out that Blackheart was going for Equestria to finish what Discord couldn't. He was going to take over the world. The alicorn gasped, "He's on his way to Canterlot!"
"How do you know?"
"W-We passed him… My friends and I were in a carriage flying to Darkadia and there was a sudden storm that shot us out of the sky with a lightning bolt. It had to be him." She looked at Nightfall's saddlebag and asked suddenly, "Do you have medical supplies in there?"
The colt looked down at his bag that hung off of his side and then back up to her, "Yeah, why?"
"My friend is hurt and we need to get back to Canterlot fast."
"Where are they?"
"A cave alongside the forest; it shouldn't take long to get there, though."
Nightfall nodded and picked up Dawn with his mouth, placing her on his back. "Alright, let's go help your friend and save Canterlot!"
"Follow me!" Twilight enthusiastically yelled as she turned around and galloped through the brush. Truth was: she had no idea where she was going.
I want to apologize for not stating that Nightfall was a unicorn earlier as well as Dawn. That was my mistake. Forgive me! ;~; Anywho, yeah. This is getting tense, right?! :D Well, tune in for the next chapter. Thanks for checking this out and review! – The FrozenAgent.
